
Class ____E^ 
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OF THE CHARACTER OF THE LATE t y ^ 



HON, SAMUEL. HOl^VE, 

DELIVERED 



AT THE OPENING OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, AT WORCESTER, 

ON THE THIRD DAY OF MARCH 1828, AFTER THE USUAL 

CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY. 



PCBLISHED BY REfttJEST OF THE BAR OF THE COUNTY, 



BY JOHN M*^ WILLIAMS, Esa. 
One of the Associate Justices of the Court. 



2HorcrBt0t : 

FROill THE ^GIS PRESS. 



GRIFFIN AND 3IORRILL, PRINTERS. 
18S8. 



> 

'•^. 









To the Gentlemen of the Bav of the County of Worcester. 

The following voluntary tribute to the memory of our departed 
friend is, at your request, submitted to your disposal. My only re- 
gret is, that it is not more worthy of his merits and of your accept- 
ance. 

I am, Gentlemen, with much respect. 

Your obedient Servant, 
J. M. WILLIAMS. 



^■^'2/^fj. 



•y 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BAR. 



^t a meeting of the members of the Bar, in theCounty of Worcester, 
held in the Court Room, March 4, A. D. 1828, the following pream- 
ble and resolutions were unanimously adopted: 

Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove, 
by death, during the last vacation, a distinguished jurist and an 
approved judge, the Honorable Samuel Howe, of the Court of 
Common Pleas, it particularly becomes the members of this 
Bar, who have been the frequent witnesses of the extent and 
variety of his learning, his promptness and despatch in the 
business of the Courts, and his uniform urbanity of manner and 
kindness of heart in all situations, to record here, in the scene 
of his last judicial labors, their testimony of the virtue and worth 
of him, whom, while living, they esteemed as their friend, and 
honored as the benefactor of their profession. Therefore, 

Voted, That the members of the Bar of the County of 
Worcester unite with their brethren throughout the Common- 
wealth in deeply deploring the death of Judge Howe, who was 
equally eminent for the readiness and tenacity of his memory, 
the extent of his researches, the justness of his discrimination, 
the soundness and decision of his judgment, and his unerring 
rectitude of purpose : That they sincerely participate in the 
sorrow manifested at his untimely decease by the citizens of 
this County, who uniformly retired from the Courts in which 
he presided, with a grateful impression of his benignity, integ- 
rity, and impartiality, and, without presuming to measure his 
merits as a lawyer with precision, pronounced him to be a great 
and good man : That they cordially sympathize with the be- 
reaved family of the deceased, to whom the recital of his mer- 
its as a citizen and a judge, of his devotion to letters and the 
cause of education, and of the many and endearing virtues of 



his social and private life can bring with it only the melancholy 
reflection, that the loss, .which they have sustained, is indeed 
irreparable. But to them and to all, who were associated with 
him, he has left the consoling example of a life, uniformly in- 
fluenced and regulated by the precepts and spirit of that re- 
ligion, which sustained him by its hopes, and animated him by 
its promises, in the dark hours of sickness and dissolution. 

Voted, That a copy of the above resolutions be transmitted 
to the family of the late Judge Howe. 

Voted, That a copy of the Address delivered by His Hon- 
or Judge Williams, relating to the life and character of the 
late Judge Howe, be requested for publication. 

Voted, That the gentlemen of the Bar wear the usual badge 
of mourning during the present term of this Court and the next 
term of the Supreme Judicial Court in this County. 



ADDRESS. 



During the vacation which has now elapsed, the 
surviving members of the Court have lost an associate 
and brother, the members of the bar a friend, and the 
community a faithful magistrate and able expounder 
of the laws. It would be impossible if it were de- 
sirable, and it certainly would not be desirable if it 
were possible, to forget, on this occasion, our recent 
bereavement. At the last term of this Court the la- 
mented Judge Howe presided. Within these walls 
you witnessed the performance of his last public du- 
ties. Here, while his corporeal frame was sinking 
under the pressure of a malady which proved to be 
mortal, his intellectual buoyance and elasticity carri- 
ed him — we may say triumphantly carried him — 
through the too arduous labors of a protracted ses- 
sion, and enabled him to accomplish the task which 
he had assumed. Here he finished his work, and 
here he may be said to have fallen in the faithful 
discharge of the trust committed to him. Had his 



life and his health been spared, the duties which I 
am now called here to perform would have devolv- 
ed on another. All the circumstances of our present 
meeting forcibly remind us of the afflicting loss which 
we have sustained by his death. There seems, there- 
fore, to be peculiar propriety in pausing, before we 
proceed in the customary routine of our forensic 
avocations, to contemplate, for a moment, his life and 
character, and to pay a brief tribute to his memory. 
With Judge Howe, in his early life, I had no per- 
sonal acquaintance. I knew him not during the period 
of his professional labors at the bar. My personal 
acquaintance with him commenced on his appoint- 
ment to the Judicial office which he dignified by his 
talents and adorned by his virtues. Of his early dil- 
igence and zeal in the acquisition of knowledge, I 
cannot, therefore, speak from personal observation. 
But the stores of legal learning with which his mind 
was fraught, his extensive and familiar acquaintance 
with legal principles and his accurate discrimination 
in applying them as occasions required, are incontro- 
vertible evidence of early and persevering industry 
and application. Such acquisitions cannot be made 
by mere genius however brilliant, or by mere read- 
ing however extensive. They require habits of 
thought, of reflection, of attention ; a vigilant exer- 
cise of the judgment, and an untiring exercise and 
application of the higher powers of the intellect. 



For these qualities our departed friend was eminent- 
ly distinguished. At an early age he had, by the 
force of his talents and industry, raised himself to 
an eminence in his profession which few attain. He 
was ardently attached to the profession which he 
had selected. He devoted himself to the study of it 
as a science, and not merely as a series of insulated cas- 
es, each decided on its own independent circumstances. 
He endeavored to ascertain the reasons and founda- 
tions of the law. He examined the principles on 
which it is grounded, traced their mutual relations 
and dependencies, and considered the various decid- 
ed cases as so many distinct but not independent il- 
lustrations of those elementary principles, and the 
various modes of their practical application. These 
qualities and habits of his mind, combined with his 
moral worth, attracted the respect, esteem and con- 
fidence of the community. Before he had fully reach- 
ed the meridian of life, he was acknowledged, by 
those who best knew him, to have few equals in his 
profession. Accordingly on the first organization of 
this Court he was placed on the judicial bench. 

Here he administered justice with conscientious 
fidelity and distinguished success. You have wit- 
nessed his judicial demeanor. His ardor in the in- 
vestigation of truth, his energy and skill in the dis- 
patch of busmess, the rapidity and accuracy of his 
perceptions, his prompt recollection of leading and 



analogous cases, his careful exercise of the pow- 
ers of discrimination, and especially his candor, 
impartiality, independence and unaffected urbanity 
of deportment were traits of character worthy of 
grateful commemoration. His manners on the bench, 
as in the social circle, were simple, artless and un- 
constrained. He assumed no artificial dignity ; he 
indulged no jealous fears lest the respect due to his 
official station should be violated. He wished to be 
approached and addressed by all with perfect free- 
dom and to commune with all the members of the 
bar as with brethren. He never acted a part for the 
sake of display and required no homage but that 
courtesy and decorum of mutual intercourse which 
every cultivated and refined mind spontaneously be- 
stows. I have heard him express his regret that im- 
memorial custom still required every address to the 
Court to be preceded by an established formula of 
respectful words. It w^as this desire of familiar in- 
tercourse which sometimes prompted him to inter- 
rupt counsel by a suggestion of his own sudden im- 
pressions. It was not from an eagerness to pre- 
clude discussion, from an impatience to announce his 
conclusive decision, or from a reluctance to listen to 
aro-ument, but to suggest, at the moment, the difficul- 
ties which were presented to his own mind, that they 
might, if possible, be obviated. His judgment was 
ever open to receive new light from whatever 



source. No pride of opinion prevented him from 
yielding his prepossessions, if he had any, to the 
force of truth, and he always made his will sub- 
mit, with ready obedience, to the dictates of his 
understanding. His feelings of kindness, while on 
the bench, were not confined to the members of the 
bar and the permanent officers of the Court. They 
embraced all who were connected with him, though 
but transiently, in the administration of the law. I 
have heard him declare that, when he dismissed a 
jury at the close of a term, he felt their departure 
as a separation from his friends. 

Possessing these eminent qualifications for the 
administration of justice, while he was yet but on 
the threshold of intellectual maturity, the public sen- 
timent seemed to have designated him for a hiofher 
judicial station, where h;s merits would have been 
still more conspicuous, and the sphere of his useful- 
ness still more extensive and permanent. In the 
mean time his active mind and benevolent disposition 
sought an appropriate employment and gratification. 
He assisted in the establishment of a law school for 
the instruction and guidance of the youthful votaries 
of legal science, who hastened, at his invitation, to 
enroll themselves as his pupils. In this situation he 
manifested an aptness to teach, a delight in impart- 
ing knowledge, an affectionate interest in the pro- 
gressive improvement of his students, a familiarity 



10 

and suavity of address, and a uniform kindness of de- 
portment, which softened and subdued the harsher 
features of black-letter lore, and spread attractions 
over those departments of jurisprudence which are 
sometimes repulsive to the youthful mind. By fa- 
miliar conversation ; by free and unrestrained inter- 
course adapted to the several capacities and tastes of 
his pupils, as well as by formal and stated lectures and 
recitations, he endeavored, not merely to impart a 
knowledge of legal principles and their application, 
but to excite that love of legal science, and that am- 
bition to excel, which would tend to stimulate enqui- 
ry and thus to elevate the standard of professional 
character. If any are present who have enjoyed 
the benefits of his superintending care in the initiato- 
ry studies of their profession, their hearts will more 
than respond my feeble and inadequate delineation 
of his merits. They will dwell on the memory of 
his services with grateful recollections, and will sym- 
pathize with their younger brethren, who, in the 
midst of their course, are deprived of his counsel and 
guidance. 

Though the science of jurisprudence was the 
principal. It was not the exclusive object of Judge 
Howe's attention and pursuit. In whatever was in- 
teresting to humanity, he also was interested. The 
current topics of public discussion, the politics and 
literature of the day, the various plans for internal 



11 

improvement and for ameliorating the condition of 
society, in short, every subject of general conversa- 
tion attracted a portion of his attention, and upon all, 
his opinions and remarks were listened to with re- 
spect, with pleasure and with profit. 

The education of youth in sound learning and 
correct principles was, in his view, an object of vast 
moment. He considered our primary schools, our 
high schools, and our academies and collegiate insti- 
tutions, not merely as instruments and means of in- 
tellectual culture, but as exercising an immense mor- 
al power in the community, and as influencing, for 
good or for evil — the destinies of all succeeding gen- 
erations. With these enlarged views of the nature 
and objects of education, he accepted his late legisla- 
tive appointment as a member of the board of trus- 
tees of Amherst College, and with the same liberal 
feelings, he descended to the more humble, but per- 
haps not less important duties of a member of the 
school committee in the village of his residence, to 
watch and direct the details of primary instruction. 

These are not the only claims which the charac- 
ter of our departed associate and friend presented to 
our respect, esteem and affection. His character was 
uniform and consistent throuofh all the various rela- 
tions of life. I will not attempt to pourtray the in- 
numerable nameless, noiseless acts of goodness which 
cheered his quiet and hospitable home. It is not for 



12 

us to invade the sanctuary of liis domestic retirement ; 
to proclaim the invisible and unrecorded virtues of 
the household ; to trace the numerous tender ties 
vi^hich bound him to his family ; or to describe the 
bitterness of that anguish, and gaze on the gushings 
of those sorrows Avhich were produced by the blow 
that severed them. Here a stranger may not inter- 
meddle. Wc must stand apart in silent sympathy, 
a,nd leave them to the soothingfs of time and the con- 
solations of religion. 

In the more extended and visible relations of so- 
cial life, all, who were acquainted with the deceased, 
will bear testimony to the excellence of his charac- 
ter. His heart was full of kind and generous feel- 
ings. His frankness and sincerity immediately won 
the confidence and esteem of all who approached 
him. He was without guile and appeared to harbor 
nothing in his heart which he wished to conceal. No 
envy, no malice, no evil surmisings, no wrathful pas- 
sions rankled there. He was willing that all its emo- 
tions and desires and impulses should be seen and un- 
derstood and scanned. If he was ambitious, it was 
an ambition of the noblest kind. It was not the spir- 
it of domination. It was not a thirst for power and 
command. It was not that spirit which prompts to 
exertion merely because another is higher, or because 
pride or vanity is Avounded. It was a benevolent ar- 
dour — an enlarged and honorable emulation, founded 



13 

on a love of what is excellent, and a desire to let his 
light shine for the improvement and happiness of his 
fellow men. 

On the various political questions which have, 
from time to time, agitated the community, he adopt- 
ed his opinions with deliberation and defended them 
with earnestness, but not with acrimony. He was the 
uniform and consistent advocate of principles which 
appeared to him to be sound ; of measures which, in 
his judgment, had a tendency to promote the gener- 
al welfare ; and of men who recommended and pursu- 
ed those measures : But he never surrendered his 
judgment to the influence of the spirit of party, or his 
heart and affections to its withering dominion. 

It would be doing injustice to the character of 
him, whom we commemorate, to consider him only in 
his professional, literary, social, and civil relations. 
He is worthy of remembrance also in his higher and 
holier relation — in his character as a religious man. 
This was the crowning excellence which pervaded 
and sanctified all his other estimable qualities. The 
testimony of his life, as well as that which he gave 
in his dying moments, to the power of his faith, ought 
not to be passed over in silence. He had carefully 
studied the evidences of divine revelation. He was 
convinced of its truth, and made a public profession 
of his faith. He examined that revelation for him- 
self, and formed his own opinions of the duties which 



14 

it inculcates and the doctrines which it reveals. I 
shall not speak here ol the peculiarities of his relig- 
ious creed. This is not the place or the occasion 
for theological discussions. He may have erred — he 
may have erred greatly, in forming his opinions upon 
some points which are deemed important by many wise 
and good men. He was too humble in his estimate 
of his own powers to arrogate to himself an infalli- 
bility of judgment. To his own master he must stand 
or fall. He was ready to listen, with respectful at- 
tention, to the opinions, and to weigh the arguments 
of others; but conscious of his personal responsibili- 
ty for the faithful exercise of those powers which 
his God had bestowed upon him, he refused to sur- 
render his judgment to human authority or to re- 
quire others to submit to his own. 

Of his heart we can judge only by those external 
acts and expressions which indicate its secret exercis- 
es and invisible movements. His life and conversa- 
tion appeared to be such as become the gospel, and 
we have, therefore, a reasonable assurance that re- 
ligion, in its purity and power, dwelt in his heart. As 
in life he had manifested the purifying influence of 
Christianity, so in death he experienced its sustaining 
sufficiency. His departure was not in darkness and 
dismay. It was illuminated with the rays of heaven- 
ly light, and preceded by an hour of strength and 
peace and composed recollection. During this tcm- 



15 

porary relief from the pressure of disease, which 
seemed to have been granted to him in answer to his 
prayer, he expressed, with much earnestness, his un- 
wavering faith in the christian reh'gion ; the happy 
support which he derived from it in the prospect of 
approaching dissolution ; his trust and confidence in 
the mercy of God as revealed by the Saviour, and 
the satisfaction which he felt in the consciousness of 
having endeavored uprightly to discharge his duties 
in every station. His last words were words of 
prayer to his Father in heaven, into whose hands he 
calmly resigned his spirit. 

It is not for us to fathom the counsels of Omnis- 
cient wisdom, and to explain why such a man has 
been taken from his family, his friends and the com- 
munity, in the midst of his usefulness and in the full 
vigor of his intellectual manhood. This is among 
those mysteries of divine Providence to which it be- 
comes us to submit in adoring silence. But we may 
all profit by the solemn admonitions which an event 
so melancholy is calculated to impress on our hearts. 
We may profit by the contemplation of his example 
which allures to virtue ; by the contemplation of his 
life, which was consecrated to life's great purposes, 
to duty and to usefulness; and by the contemplation 
of his death, the darkness of which was gilded by 
those hopes of eternal life which his religion in- 
spired. 



J6 

May such contemplations have their appropriate, 
salutary influence. May they purify our affections, 
elevate our desires, sanctify our purposes, quicken 
our diligence in duty; and while they warn us of our 
feeble hold on life, may they teach us to apply our 
hearts to wisdom, and our hands to the great work 
of preparation for our own approaching departure. 




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